


dancing at midnight

by shutupsolace



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Anxiety Attacks, Background Logicality - Freeform, M/M, Prinxiety - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-06
Updated: 2019-03-06
Packaged: 2019-11-13 00:52:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,432
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18021734
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shutupsolace/pseuds/shutupsolace
Summary: What do you do when your boyfriend is having a rough time and you're afraid you might be the cause of it?





	dancing at midnight

**Author's Note:**

> i've noticed i tend to try and rush through my stories, so this one was practice for drawing things out. that being said, i also really love writing sanders sides fics, so it worked out.

Virgil was not having a good day.

Roman and Thomas had been working on a new video for the past two days. It was now the third day and they were still furiously working, writing, rewriting, editing, and it was driving Virgil nuts. All this brainstorming meant extra work for him (and he hated working.) What if they couldn’t get the video out on time? What if something broke? What if Thomas’ friends felt he didn’t care about them because he was so busy? What if everyone hated it anyways? What if all this work was for nothing and Thomas wasted days of his life on something that didn’t amount to anything, what if-

Virgil took a breath. All he wanted was to sit on the couch, maybe drink some chocolate milk, perhaps even hang out with his boyfriend. But no. He was stuck here, worrying. Constantly. If he wasn’t careful, he could give Thomas a panic attack, which would only prolong the work that was already being done, and add more stress to Thomas, which meant Virgil had to work harder to prevent Thomas from getting too freaked out or else-

Another breath. He just had to chill. But it was tough to chill when the fate of Thomas’ entire livelihood rested on his shoulders. (Well, not entirely. But it felt like it.) Sometimes he’d sit with Roman and Thomas at the computer, but mostly he preferred to sit in the kitchen, far away from all the brainstorming. Besides, sitting on the counter helped him keep calm. It’s the little things.

But all that stress led to a snappy Virgil. Normally, he would just go hide out in his room until the storm blew over, but Patton liked it when they ate meals together, and even now, he couldn’t stand to disappoint Patton. So, he slunk out of the kitchen when Patton asked him to sit at the table, eager to get the meal over with and go to his room. Logan was already sitting quietly, totally engrossed in a book. Virgil sat across from him, eyeing the overly shiny silverware. He could tell when Patton got bored because little things around the house that wouldn’t normally be done in a routine clean up were taken care of. Shining the silverware was one of those things. He’d have to speak to Logan about checking up on Patton, Virgil didn’t have the energy tonight to handle Patton’s intense emotions. At that moment, Patton came humming into the room, carrying a bowl of pasta in one hand and platter of garlic bread in the other.

“Dinner’s served!” he said, smiling proudly at the setup.

“Thank you, Patton. The food looks satisfactory.” Logan placed his book down on the table as Virgil mumbled his thanks.

“It’s no problem, kiddos. Eat up!” Patton plopped down in his seat next to Logan, beaming at the other two.

 

The sound of forks scratching plates grated against Virgil’s ears. He hunched his shoulders, burrowing further into his oversized hoodie. It felt like sounds were coming at him from all angles. The insistent sound of chewing, the clanking of silverware being set down, even his friends’ voices made his head feel like it was full of cotton balls. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest, could feel his pulse concentrating in his wrist. He nervously stuffed another forkful of food into his mouth, awkwardly swallowing despite his parched throat. This was torture. The scrape of a chair as Logan stood made Virgil grimace.

“I am retrieving water. Do either of you require some?” he asked, turning towards the kitchen.

“Yes, thank you, Logan!” Patton enthused while Virgil shook his head, tucking his chin into his collar. Logan lingered for a moment, looking at Virgil, before nodding swiftly and walking to the kitchen. Virgil let out a small sigh.

They were halfway through dinner when Roman swooped into the room, nearly startling Virgil out of his seat. His heart thudded louder in his ears.

“Hello, dear family, terribly sorry for my absence but I was helping Thomas to finish up!” Roman’s voice seemed to boom around the room. Virgil imagined he could see the glasses of water tremble on the table.

“That’s fine, Roman! I’m glad you could join us!” Patton passed the garlic bread along to Roman as he took his seat next to Virgil.

Roman placed his elbow on Virgil’s chair, leaning in close. “And how are you, my Chemically Imbalanced Romance?”

Virgil shifted away slightly, huddling in on himself. “Fine,” he ground out, keeping his eyes on his plate.

Roman frowned. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, Roman!” Virgil snapped. “Just get out of my face!”

The table went silent. Roman made a placating gesture, his eyes wide. Virgil glared at his plate. His heart pounded, louder and louder, filling up the silence. This was too much. He couldn’t stay here anymore. His nerves were going haywire. Everything was too much, too much, too much. He shoved back from the table, his chair making a loud scraping noise, and sank out of sight.

 

Something was definitely wrong with Virgil. 

Roman just didn’t know what. He’d been working so hard the past couple of days that he’d only seen Virgil in scattered instances. He often kept to himself anyways, but the outburst at dinner lead Roman to believe something was seriously up. And as his boyfriend, it was his job to get to the bottom of it.

Dinner continued quietly. Roman wanted to rush off after Virgil immediately but the look on Logan’s face told him to wait. Right. Virgil probably wanted space. Patton looked distraught all throughout the rest of dinner, making Roman a little reluctant to leave right away. He offered to help with clearing up when they finished. They stood in the kitchen, Roman boxing up the leftover food and Patton washing the dishes. He glanced over. Patton had been methodically scrubbing the same plate for the last couple of minutes, gazing blankly at the wall.

“Are you… okay, Pat?” Roman asked, carefully. Patton turned sideways, unevenly, his eyes damp with unshed tears.

“Huh? Oh, yeah, I’m fine!” Patton responded, hastily rubbing at his eyes. Roman quirked an eyebrow at him. Patton sighed, turning all the way and hugging himself. “Actually, um, I’m not feeling too great, Ro. I’m just worried about Virgil. I don’t like it when any of us fight.” He looked away as his eyes started watering again.

“Oh, Pat, it’s okay.” Roman pulled him into a hug, cradling Patton as he hiccupped into his shoulder. “No one’s fighting. Virge is probably just a little stressed out about something and didn’t tell anyone. I’ll talk to him tonight.”

Patton pulled back, wiping at his eyes. “Thank you, Roman,” he said, sincerely.

“No prob, bob.” Roman grinned. “Wouldn’t want my favorite puffball feeling down!” He swept into a low bow, winking at Patton.

Patton giggled. “Do you wanna stay and watch a movie with me and Logan? We’ll watch Disney if you want.”

“Thank you, but no thank you, padre,” Roman said, regally. “I’ve got to get started on figuring out what’s up with Surly Temple.”

He had work to do.

 

Roman’s plan didn’t actually take him that long. Because there really wasn’t one. His main focus was to talk to Virgil and figure out what was wrong. Truthfully, he was a bit… nervous about talking to Virgil. It wasn’t that he was afraid of Virgil, no way. He just didn’t want to push too hard. Virgil definitely wouldn’t react well to Roman pushing, and he didn’t want to make anything worse. He just wanted to make sure he was okay! Although… Virgil’s bad moods could be a little… intense. He was prone to isolating himself and lashing out verbally when he felt endangered. Nothing Roman couldn’t handle and Virgil was working on not reacting like that.

Roman shook his head. Something was wrong and he was determined to find out. Or at least make Virgil feel better. He sank into the MindScape hallway. Technically, he could just sink right into Virgil’s room as they did for the videos, but the rooms actually had entrances and it was more polite to come in through the door. Taking a deep breath, he walked up to Virgil’s room and gave a loud knock.

“Virgil, your prince charming is here!” he sang out, hoping for a positive response.

The room remained silent.

Right. Probably not the best way to go after Virgil’s explosive exit. Something more relaxed this time.

“Virgil? Are you in there? I just wanted to check on you.” More silence.

Stifling a sigh, Roman nudged the door open a crack. “Virge?”

Before he could get a good look inside, the room blacked out and the door slammed closed, sending Roman stumbling back into the hallway.

Guess Virgil really wanted to be left alone.

 

Virgil didn’t come out the next day.

Roman spent the whole day with Thomas, working to get the video finished. The day was suspiciously stress free. But that’s okay. Sometimes this happened, things were different now, it didn’t mean Virgil had ducked out entirely. He just needed a day to relax.

But then Virgil didn’t come out the next day either.

Patton was beginning to get antsy. He didn’t like it when he didn’t see one of them for that long. And Virgil had skipped out on dinner almost three nights now. Even Logan was concerned on the third day of Virgil being a no show. Roman was worried. He loved his boyfriend very much, even though Virgil’s stress sometimes slowed down the creative process. They had finished the video the day before, but without Virgil there at all to remind them, they weren’t as worried about efficiency. Roman needed to concoct a plan to get Virgil back out.

Later that night, after dinner, Roman slid a note under Virgil’s door.

                                                                   _Meet me in the Imagination at midnight._

He quickly ran off to prepare.

 

It took Roman a few hours to prepare for the evening. He was just in time, finishing up as a knock sounded at the door he had created to hide to contents of the Imagination. The door swung open, revealing a hunched over Virgil, black eyeshadow looking hastily applied under his eyes. His hoodie was dishevelled and creased, accompanied by his usual ripped black jeans, and his hood was drawn low over his forehead, casting a shadow across his face. Despite his unruly appearance, Roman was glad to see him.

Roman bowed, sweeping his arm out in front of him and beckoning Virgil to him. Virgil shuffled forward, taking in his surroundings. They were standing in an ornate ballroom, with a gold ceiling arching overhead and deep red curtains hanging against the walls. Virgil came to a stop in front of him, looking almost as if he was ready to bolt at a moments notice.

Roman held up his hands in the leading position, waiting for Virgil to take his hands. When he did, Roman tapped his foot and music swirled to life around them. Roman carefully began leading them around the empty space.

“Hey,” he said after a moment. He half expected Virgil to scoff. “Hey? That’s your romantic opener?” he would say. But instead, he mumbled a soft “hey” back at him.

“I hope this isn’t too much,” Roman said. Virgil looked down. “I didn’t want to impose on your space.” Virgil nodded.

Roman stayed quiet for a stretch, gentling swirling and leading them up and down the ballroom.

“You’re pretty good at this,” Roman tried again, not wanting to push too hard. A light blush rose over Virgil’s cheeks.

“Yeah, well… whatever,” Virgil muttered, turning away.

Roman let out a quiet laugh. “Aw, did I make Mr. Dark and Stoic blush?” he teased.

Virgil kicked at his legs. “Shut up, Prince Obnoxious.”

Roman laughed louder this time, twirling them around. He caught Virgil smiling slightly and gave him a long look.

“We’re worried about you, you know,” he said, softer this time. Virgil looked away, over Roman’s shoulder.

“I know.”

“What happened?”

Virgil didn’t respond, still staring over Roman’s shoulder. He looks tired, Roman thought. And the dark circles under his eyes aren’t eyeshadow.

Suddenly, Roman dipped Virgil, garnering his attention. The darker side look at him, startled.

“You will not believe what I heard Logan saying to a jar of Crofters yesterday,” Roman said.

Virgil sniggered as Roman spun him around, regaling him with tales of what he missed.

 

Later that night, the two were laying in Roman’s bed, cuddled under his giant blanket and surrounded by various Disney dolls.

“Hey, Virge?” Roman murmured. A hum in response. “You gotta talk to me.”

Virgil groaned, sitting up.

“I know,” Roman said, sitting up with him. “But if you don’t talk to me, I can’t help.”

Virgil buried his face in his hands. “Look it’s- okay- honestly, it’s not that big a deal. I just got-” He scrubbed a hand down his face. “I got kind of overwhelmed. All the working and not seeing you while you worked, and then at the table it was just- it was just too much. All at once.”

“Virgil, that’s not nothing. If I had known you needed space I would’ve-”

“That’s not- that’s not the problem.” Virgil hissed a sigh through his teeth. “I did want to see you. I’d been wanting to see you all day. But then when you did come through, I was really anxious, and there was just a lot...happening. I shouldn’t have yelled at you. I’m sorry, Ro.”

“Oh, Virge, I understand. Is that why you hid away for so long?”

Virgil nodded. “I was embarrassed. I didn’t want you to hate me so I hid. But that wasn’t fair on you.”

“It’s in the past.”

“Roman, it was two days ago-”

“Shhh, shhh.” Roman pressed a finger to Virgil’s lips. “I forgive you. Don’t worry about it. For now, let’s just lay here.”

“Are you sure?” Virgil asked, a crease appearing on his forehead. “You don’t have to-”

“Virgil.” He shut his mouth. “What did I just say? It’s fine. What I want to do now is lay here with my boyfriend and cuddle. Indulge me?”

Roman laid back, holding an arm out to Virgil. He looked at it hesitantly before gently laying down on Roman’s chest. His eyes fluttered closed and he breathed a sigh of relief. Roman’s arm tightened around his shoulders and Virgil felt his whole body relax.

Yeah. They were gonna be just fine.

**Author's Note:**

> constructive criticism is always welcome. here's my [tumblr](https://astudyinfuckmylife.tumblr.com/) if you want to talk more about sanders sides and shoot some ideas. thanks for reading!


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